First Year Seminar Prospectus Form

Before you fill out this form, please be sure that you have read through FYS requirements, you have an idea of what GE criteria this course might fulfill, and you have a draft of the course syllabus handy.

Semester the FYS will be offered:*

Fall
Spring

Year the FYS will be offered:*

Department:*

FYS Title:*

Instructor's Name:*

FirstLast

Rank:

Instructor's Email:*

Enter EmailConfirm Email

Faculty Bio:*

Provide a short paragraph with a description of yourself, including academic interests and personal information. This information will be used to promote your seminar, so feel free to brag a bit and be interesting. 100 word limit.

Seminar Description:*

Provide a description that summarizes the seminar’s content and goals using terms that will be familiar to high school students or that are defined within the description. We will use this description in various materials that describe your seminar. 150 word limit.

Syllabus:

Please provide a digital copy of a syllabus for this course.

First Year Seminar Criteria

FYS are expected to address five criteria. Each criterion is more or less relevant depending upon the seminar's subject matter, but instructors should be aware of the broader goals of our FYS program. To that end, please describe how the proposed FYS addresses the five criteria listed below. For more information on the FYS program and the specific resources related to these criteria, browse the Faculty tab on the FYS web site (http://www.fys.unc.edu).

FYS should be issue-oriented and advanced, covering a wide range of knowledge, and/or engaging specific issues or advanced, cutting-edge topics. However, FYS are not introductory surveys, and they cannot stipulate a prerequisite skill or course as a condition for enrollment. How will the proposed FYS meet this difficult criterion?*

FYS should be methodologically self-conscious in the sense of focusing on how scholars pose problems, discover solutions, resolve controversies, and evaluate knowledge. How will this criterion be met? *

FYS should involve active learning, encourage self-directed inquiry and enable students to take responsibility for producing knowledge. Describe the expected student participation and any plans for out-of-classroom or off-campus activities.*

FYS should attempt to refine students’ communication skills. How will the proposed FYS encourage communication?*

FYS are the only undergraduate courses that do not require final exams, and instructors are encouraged to use multiple testing strategies and gradable components to accommodate students' diverse learning styles and varied cognitive stages. All FYS should have a minimum of three graded assignments, with at least one assignment graded and returned to students before the 8-week deadline for dropping a course. If class participation is graded, it is recommended that it not constitute more than 10% of the final grade. How will grades be assigned in this FYS?*

General Education Requirements

All FYS are expected to meet some General Education requirements. Please answer the following questions, which are applicable to all General Education courses:

Does the course require at least 10 pages of writing or the equivalent in intellectual labor?*

Yes
No

For science, math, and performance courses, where little writing is typically assigned, does the course require the intellectual equivalent of at least 10 pages of writing outside of class?

Yes
No

Does the course involve regular discussions?*

Yes
No

For science and math courses, where regular discussions may not be appropriate, does the course require students to apply their acquired knowledge to challenging problems?

Yes
No

Approaches

Please answer the relevant questions if the proposed FYS fulfills an Approaches requirement. Proportion of course content is estimated by counting the number of class sessions or weekly themes devoted to the subjects considered. A FYS can fulfill only one Approach.

Select, at most, one Approches requirement:

If you selected an Approaches requirement above, please respond to the relevant questions below.

Physical and Life Sciences (PL)

The course focuses on scientific content and scientific method.

Check boxes that apply.

Social and Behavioral Sciences (SS)

The course focuses on the scientific study of individual or collective behavior.
The course draws on established quantitative and/or qualitative methods of analysis.

Check boxes that apply.

Historical Analysis (HS)

The courses focuses on the past and change over time, rather than the contemporary world.
The course places human behavior in social or cultural contexts.

Check boxes that apply.

Visual and Performing Arts (VP)

The course emphasizes aesthetic content (e.g., art, architecture, music, drama, design, performance studies, film) this is nonliterary.
At least 2/3 of the course content involves analysis of, or creative expression within, the visual and performing arts.

Check boxes that apply.

Philosophical and Moral Reasoning (PH)

The course addresses the social dimensions of philosophical reasoning.
If the course addresses the social dimensions of philosophical reasoning, at least 1/5 of the course content addresses questions of morality and values.
The course focuses on understanding and critically assessing the truth, adequacy, defensibility, or value of the ideas being explored.

Check boxes that apply.

Literary Arts (LA)

At least 2/3 of the course content involves the reading, analysis, or creation of literary texts.

Check boxes that apply. If the course covers literature in foreign languges, the syllabus should indicate the language of instruction.

Connections

Please answer the relevant questions if the proposed FYS fulfills one or more Connections requirements (you can choose up to two Connections requirements). Please note that proportion of course content is estimated by counting the number of class sessions or weekly themes devoted to the subjects considered.

Select all Connections requirements that apply:

If you selected a Connections requirement above, please respond to the relevant questions below.

Communication Intensive: Does the course promote the revision of written or oral work in response to instructor, and perhaps also student feedback and discussion?

Yes
No

Communication Intensive: Are students given the opportunity to revise for a grade a draft or an oral presentation based on the instructor’s comments?

Yes
No

Quantitative Intensive: Does the course content involve students in some of the following activities? (Please describe at least two activities)

Using quantitative methods to model and solve problems.
Developing numerical reasoning above the level of basic algebra and trigonometry.
Collecting and interpreting quantitative data
Constructing logically sound arguments and recognizing fallacies by using quantitative information, mathematical analysis, formal logic, and proofs.
Expressing ideas and concepts from the mathematical sciences orally and in writing.
Connecting the role of the mathematical sciences to cultural change, to other sciences, and to the arts and humanities.

Describe how this course uses quantitative methods to model and solve problems.

Describe how this course develops students' numerical reasoning above the level of basic algebra and trigonometry.

Describe how this course teaches students how to collect and interpret quantitative data.

Describe how this course helps students construct logically sound arguments and teaches them how to recognize fallacies using quantitative information, mathematical analysis, formal logic, and proofs.

Describe how this course provides opportunities for students to express ideas and concepts from the mathematical sciences orally and in writing.

Describe how this course connects the role of the mathematical sciences to cultural change, to other sciences, and to the arts and humanities.

U.S. Diversity: On what form(s) of diversity does the course focus?

U.S. Diversity: Does the course give systematic attention to multiple social groups (at least two U.S. subcultures)?

Global Issues: Does the course feature transnational or transregional relationships, issues, or dynamics?

Global Issues: Does at least 2/3 of the course content focus on transnational content?

The World before 1750: Would the course meet the criteria for the Historical Analysis category? (This is required.)

The World before 1750: Does at least 2/3 of the course content focus on the period before 1750?

North Atlantic World: How does the course introduce students to the history, geography, or culture of North America or Europe?

North Atlantic World: Does at least 2/3 of the course content focus on a North Atlantic region?

Beyond the North Atlantic World: How does the course introduce students to the history, geography, or culture of a particular region outside the North Atlantic?

Beyond the North Atlantic: Does at least 2/3 of the course content focus on a region or regions beyond the North Atlantic?

Experiential Education: If the course is proposed under the rubric of undergraduate research, is original student research at the heart of the course?

Experiential Education: How does the research process influence the allocation of instructional time?

Experiential Education: If the course is proposed for EE under one of the other rubrics (field work, service-learning, engaged creative process), does the course meet the minimum hours requirement specific to the category?

Yes
No

Select all that apply

Field Work (at least 30 hours)
Service Learning (at least 30 hours)
Performing Arts (at least 30 hours)

College of Arts and Sciences

First Year Seminars

Contact FYS:

Feedback on the new site? Problems?

First Year Seminar Prospectus Form

First Year Seminar Criteria

General Education Requirements

Approaches

Connections